The Mininstry of Health (MOH) in China imposed a strict ban on surrogacy in 2001. Despite this, loopholes in the law and lax enforcement allows childless couples to continue to seek out surrogate mothers. According to the English People’s Daily Online, at least one woman has become a surrogate mother twice, both times largely for the money.
Or, rather, the facts on Ovarian Cancer. Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions invites you to help fight the #4 cancer killer of women. More die of ovarian cancer than all other gynecologic cancers combined! Early detection, research and education can greatly increase her chances of surviving this deadly disease.
As part of an ever expanding birth control program aimed at reducing unwanted pregnancies and illegal abortions, Brazil will start offering the morning-after pill. More information about the birth control reform can be read in the FOXNews article.
This is a case that really makes me wonder how someone could call themselves an “activist” but not be informed enough to get their protesting right:
David McMenemy, 46, was sentenced Friday to 5 years in prison for attempting to burn down a Davenport, Iowa women’s health clinic on September 11, 2006. McMenemy, a Detroit native, crashed his car into a building that he believed to be an abortion clinic and lit a bottle filled with gasoline before surrendering to firefighters. The Edgerton Women’s Health Care Center does not perform or make referrals for abortions, but provides prenatal care and medical services to low-income and underprivileged women, according to clinic officials.
During the sentencing, McMenemy admitted wrongdoing, telling US District Judge John Javery, “It was wrong. Even if it was an abortion clinic, it would still be wrong.” He then added that he planned to distance himself from any anti-abortion organizations in the future.
The judge ordered him to pay $263,252 in damages to the clinic and also to be treated for mental health and substance-abuse.
It’s not like it would have required much more effort to crash into the place and burn it down than it would have to find out what the clinic actually does. He and the guy who burned down the Hummer plant because they are high polluters (and his destruction of the plant actually caused more pollution than the Hummers could have put out in years) should get together and start a “hair-brained activist club”. In it, they will discuss ways ruin the environment and lives by making base-less assumptions and then acting on them through violent explosions.
I am quite saddened about this case. First of all, I don’t think he received a stiff enough penalty. Maybe if we started factoring is stupidity, sentences could be harsher. Additionally, that clinic was probably helping many women. It was probably run by an non-profit organization who does not have the funds to re-build the entire facility and now will have to remain closed (at least for some time) in order to build more funds. In the mean time, countless low-income and underprivileged women will have to seek care elsewhere, possibly further away and possibly not at all. Sometimes when you fight so hard for a cause, you do more harm than good.
An article on AlterNet.com cited that teenage birthrate is the lowest it has been in 65 years. So what is responsible for the drop? Both sex educators and abstinence-only proponents take the credit. The article then goes on to pose two scenarios and then asks who you think is right:
Let’s posit this scenario: You’re 16. You buy a soda and a pack of condoms at the corner store. That afternoon you have sex. You know how to put on the condom because you were taught in your public high school. Anyway, the condom is just a backup. Your girlfriend is on the pill. Some people say your education has encouraged you to take a life-threatening health risk.
Here’s an alternative scenario: You’re the federal government. You’ve thrown over a billion dollars into abstinence-only-until-marriage education. In a decade, you’ve transformed sex education in many states. Your message? There is no such thing as safe sex. Is your plan working? Your opponents say you’re better off throwing your money down a wishing well.
Who’s right?
Each scenario could be correct to any individual, depending on their view on the issue. So the real question is which one is getting the job done? Researchers in the article state that a combination of the two styles is causing change across the board.
It is quite possible that offering both types of education would be helpful even though the styles seem contradictory. Here’s how it could work. Abstinence-only education is only going to reach a certain number of teenagers. There will always be those out there are who are going to engage in pre-marital sex. So, for those teens, where the abstinence-only education leaves off, safe sex education can pick up the slack. Basically saying, if you choose to engage is sex before marriage, at least be safe and responsible by using contraceptives and getting tested regularly.
The problems, though, will still exist. As the article points out, the United States still has the highest teenage birthrate of any industrialized country. To add to the problem, the US government is only giving federal funding to abstinence-only programs. This may not seem like a bad thing if your belief is that teens won’t have sex if we tell them not to but the reality is, SOME will no matter what we say. Until we are able to come to a comprehensive resolution by talking openly and honestly about sex in America, our teen birthrate may drop but won’t be as low as it could (or possible should) be.
Article link: The Teenage Birth Rate Has Dropped to a 65-Year Low - Jennifer Liss, Wiretap
The abortion discussion in America is often times different from those of other countries. In Mozambique it is a question of protection of women’s lives. Too often women seek abortions in this country, where it is illegal, only to suffer serious injuries and even death because of improper procedure. These illegal abortions are the third leading cause of maternal mortality in Mozambique. For a country with the highest maternal mortality rate in the world, the measure will offer women a chance to seek procedures in proper facilities. The Feminist Daily News has the rest of the story.
women, abortion, Mozambique, international, mortality, maternal
Fertility treatments are definitely a hot topic recently. An article released recently on Salon.com’s Boadsheet caught my eye when discussing what these kinds of treatments mean for women in our society. Both of the women in the article gave birth to sextuplets with the help of fertility treatments only 10 hours apart. So what’s the big deal? Well, its the classic battle of nature vs. science.
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